They are collaborative tools when you need them to be, but they’re also good at helping you do solo things, and things that might benefit from broader input at some point, but aren’t collaborative all the time.

For instance, drafting a news release, writing documentation, capturing research notes, or writing a letter are all activities a person can do largely on their own, and the wiki provides the benefit of a simple workspace, the ability to store that information in a secure online place that you can access them from home and work computers, and the ability to easily work on your documents right from a web browser.

The summary: “At some point, you might involve colleagues, but the benefits of the wiki are there even when you’re working by yourself.”

The wiki writing space writing useful, even when used alone. The trick is find those uses for it that step beyond paper and word processing.